dodonpachi

Japanese developer CAVE is almost singe-handedly responsible for keeping the shoot-em-up genre alive in modern times – they have produced over 15 such titles since their formation in 1995. CAVE’s very first game, DonPachi, has also proved to be the most enduring, spawning many sequels under the DoDonPachi moniker. None of the DoDonPachi console ports have made the trip to the US, but DoDonPachi Resurrectionwas at least released as a region-free Xbox 360 title in the UK. Thankfully, CAVE has taken to publishing their games on smartphones in the US – first releasing a handful of DoDonPachi titles on iOS, and now launching DoDonPachi Maximum for Windows Phone worldwide. Hardcore shmup fans will certainly enjoy Maximum, but the game’s esoteric design will leave some gamers scratching their heads, if not flinging their phones in frustration.

Dodonpachi Maximum recently arrived on Xbox Live and is currently wowing hardcore gamers with its old-school design and difficulty. It’s also notable for being the first mobile Xbox Live title developed exclusively by a Japanese developer: CAVE Interactive CO, Ltd. Windows Phone needs more Japanese games; hopefully CAVE’s support encourages others to follow suit. WPCentral is proud to bring you a new installment of our Xbox Live Developer Interview series as we speak with Hiroyuki Kimura, Dodonpachi Maximum’s producer. Enjoy this rare look into the development of a shoot-em-up.

DoDonPachi Maximum may be the hardest mobile Xbox Live title to date – it’s certainly right up there with Doodle Jump and Gravity Guy, at any rate. Most gamers won’t be able to get even 100 GamerScore of Achievements from Cave’s latest shoot-em-up, to say nothing of the two secret Achievements. The method of unlocking those two Achievements has remained clouded in mystery… Until now.

You see, Japanese gamers are known for being the most highly-skilled shmup players. One such gamer, ele2424, was the first to earn DoDonPachi Maximum’s secret Achievements, and he has kindly chosen to share them with us now.

INFERNAL HERALD - 2GS
Destroyed ]-[I/34<#!.

DEFEATED - 3GS
Cleared all stages on all ranks.

The description for ‘Infernal Herald’ may be confusing. It’s actually for beating Hibachi, the traditional secret DoDonPachi boss. To reach the robotic bee, you’ll need to take down the regular boss of Stage 5-E, the hardest version of the fifth stage. Only then does Hibachi appear. Meeting and beating him will be no easy task – I personally can’t handle Stage 5-A, let alone the harder variants!

As for ’Defeated,’ players just have to beat all 15 stage variants. Again, very far from easy. As a small blessing, the extra goals of No Miss, Destroy 100%, and No Bomb don’t apply. You’ll still need to do 2 out of 3 of those things for most stages (excluding level 5) since that’s what unlocks the hard versions in the first place. But at least they don’t expect you to beat the last level without dying five times!

DoDonPachi Maximum is one of the first Japanese-developed games for Windows Phone. It costs $4.99 here on the Marketplace. Stay tuned in the coming weeks as we’ll have an exclusive interview with the developer CAVE Interactive CO, Ltd.

It’s been a long time in coming – Japanese developer Cave first announced their exclusive shooting game for Windows Phone way back in July. Many months later, DoDonPachi Maximum has finally debuted on Xbox Live.

DoDonPachi Maximum is a vertically-scrolling shoot-em-up that borrows elements from previous games like DoDonPachi Resurrection. The twist is that the entire game is supposed to be a computer simulation, so the backgrounds and enemies have all been given a retro graphics makeover. At the start, you select from two different ships, each with its own weapons and abilities. Tip: the Delta Sword kills bosses much faster. Two more ships are supposedly unlockable, but I shudder to think about the requirements for doing so…

Gameplay is simple – touch anywhere on the screen and drag to move your fighter (which shoots automatically). I find that a centimeter or so below the ship works best. As you kill enemies, your laser bombs will charge up. To fire one, touch the screen with two fingers at once. It’s a fine control system and necessary for weaving between the enemies’ many, many bullets. Check out our preview video to see it in action, or this video to sample the soundtrack.

Warning: DoDonPachi Maximum is hard. In fact, it’s harder than I just said. It will take tons of practice to complete the game – the last level is actually punishment for treason in some countries. The Achievements are even more challenging; I expect only a handful of people in the world will ever get them all.

If that sounds good to you, you’re going to love Cave’s DoDonPachi Maximum. Get it right here on the Marketplace for $4.99.

With about 18 hours before this week's Xbox LIVE game goes live for y'all to download, we figured we would tease you a little bit with some gameplay from DODONPACHI MAXIMUM. Yes, it's in all caps because this game is yelling at you...with bullets.

What can we say about this game?

It's $4.99

It's Japanese, from studio Cave

It's ridiculously crazy, fun and challenging

May induce seizures

Yeah, we like it even if it's going to take time to get good at. This is the kind of game where you can just pick up, blast away and pray you last longer than the last time you did. We're digging the graphics and all the little details throughout, meaning you should get a little excited about this is if shumps are your thing. (And yes, I'm still suffering from a head cold from Barcelona, hence why I sound sick, ahem).

Look for the Marketplace link later tonight right here at WPCentral to try it yourself...

As we mentioned last week, Japanese developer Cave’s new shoot-em-up DoDonPachi Maximum comes to Xbox Live this Wednesday. To help promote it, Cave has opened up the game's official site. It's packed with new screens, details, and even a soundtrack sampler video.

As the teaser video hinted, Maximum is supposed to be a virtual reality simulator within the DoDonPachi universe. We had already anticipated that it would be a best-of remix of classic series stages and enemies – and indeed this version is based on DoDonPachi Blissful Death and DoDonPachi Resurrection, both of which debuted in arcades before transitioning to iOS. The music from those games has been remixed by WaSi303 and sounds great.

The graphics will take some getting used to, though. Backgrounds seem to consist of simple wireframes while enemies are rendered in GameBoy-esque dot matrix patterns. Previous games featured much more detailed visuals, making this look like a budget title in comparison. Still, gameplay is what counts and that’s one area in which Cave always delivers.

Speak of the devil! Just yesterday we were sharing the DoDonPachi Maximumteaser trailer, and now it’s going to be next week’s Xbox Live release. Yes, Cave’s Windows Phone-exclusive shoot-em-up comes to the Marketplace on Wednesday, March 7.

The game’s official description:

Dodge and destroy your way through 15 unique stages routes that branch according to your skill. Accurate touch controls guide your ship with ease. Touch the screen with two fingers to activate the all-powerful "Laser Bomb" and clear the screen of enemies! Unlock new ships to beat the game with! Blast your way to a full achievement list. This is bullet hell in the palm of your hand!

DoDonPachi Maximum, the first Japanese-developed mobile Xbox Live game, will cost $4.99. Shmup fans, prepare to enter bullet hell on March 7. The week after that, Gerbil Physics!

Japanese shoot-em-up maker Cave officially announcedDoDonPachi Maximum for Windows Phone last month, but they didn’t reveal any assets besides the game’s logo. Now we have a bit more to go on thanks to a teaser trailer.

The trailer reveals a bit of cinematic art – unlike some shmups, the DoDonPachi series has always had something of a story surrounding the arcade-style gameplay. It’s also subtitled by someone who clearly doesn’t speak English as a first language... The translation should give the game a distinctly Japanese flavor when it finally makes it to the Marketplace.

A bit of background: DoDonPachi is Cave’s most popular shmup series. It’s your basic vertically-scrolling bullet hell shooter, packed with intense gameplay and large, impressive bosses. Strangely, the only American release up until now has been the excellent iPhone version, DoDonPachi Resurrection. The Xbox 360 version of DoDonPachi Resurrection did come out in Europe though, and it’s mercifully region free, so it will play on US consoles. Resurrection’s European publisher, Rising Star Games, recently opened a US branch and promised to release another Cave shoot-em-up, Akai Katana, in both Europe and North America.

DoDonPachi Maximum doesn’t have a release date yet, but it will cost $4.99. That’s not a bad deal considering its iOS predecessor goes for $7.99.

Way back in July, WPCentral first reported that Japanese developer Cave would be developing a Windows Phone exclusive shoot-em-up game. But we only knew the genre, not the name of the game or much else. At last, Cave has officially announced DoDonPachi Maximum for Windows Phone.

DoDonPachi is Cave’s most popular shmup series. It’s your basic vertically-scrolling bullet hell shooter, packed with intense gameplay and large, impressive bosses. Strangely, the only American release has been the excellent iPhone version, DoDonPachi Resurrection. The Xbox 360 version of DoDonPachi Resurrection did come out in Europe though, and it’s mercifully region free, so it will play on US consoles.

While the DoDonPachi Maximum teaser website has gone live, it’s still scant in the way of details. We do know it will be an Xbox Live game with tough-as-nails Achievements. If the iOS version is any indication, expect a $6.99 price. Some folks will never be happy paying more than a handful of pennies for a phone game, and I doubt they will care for Maximum. But shmup fans are used to paying $50+ to import Cave’s games, making the phone versions a steal by comparison.

We’ll have some exclusive details on DoDonPachi Maximum in the weeks to come, so stay tuned!